Judging by its first-quarter report, political instability in Mali has yet to seriously hit west African focused gold miner Randgold Resources – indeed, net profit rose to $104m (£65m) from $46m a year earlier. But net income was down on the previous quarter's $145m, primarily reflecting lower ore grades at the Gounkoto mine.
More worryingly, Randgold continued to experience problems at its Tongon mine in Côte d'lvoire, where production declined by over a third during 2011's last quarter. Guidance, meanwhile, was reaffirmed at 825,000-865,000 ounces of gold, even though first-quarter production slipped 13 per cent on the previous quarter to roughly 165,000 ounces. That suggests Randgold needs to produce an average of 220,000 ounces over each of the remaining three quarters just to achieve the lower end of that range, although the commissioning of a third mill at the Loulo-Gounkoto complex should boost ore throughput.
